Identifying Unique Integrated Care Competencies to Inform Health Profession Curriculum Development

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Education
• Interprofessional Education
• Health Systems Strengthening

Background:

• Integrated care models improve patient outcomes and organizational efficiency.
• Pre-qualification education for health professionals lacks defined integrated care competencies.
• This review identifies essential competencies for integrated care practice upon graduation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify published integrated care competencies for health professional education programs at the entry-level.
• To inform curriculum development for pre-qualification health professional training.

Main Methods:

• Systematic literature search using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines.
• Searched PubMed and CINAHL databases from January 2013 to December 2022.
• Two-stage screening process to determine article eligibility based on inclusion criteria.

Main Results:

• Initial search yielded 493 articles; 35 were eligible for full-text review.
• Five articles discussed integrated care curricula generally, focusing on educational activities and professional attributes.
• No studies specifically detailed integrated care competencies for entry-level health professional students.

Conclusions:

• Recent frameworks offer broad integrated care competency domains.
• Distillation of existing frameworks is needed to identify unique capabilities for new health professionals.
• Educators require specific competencies to design effective learning, teaching, and assessment experiences for pre-entry students.